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Consumption of death cap mushrooms — often mistaken for safe, edible lookalikes — has been linked to a deadly outbreak in California.
The mushrooms, officially called Amanita phalloides, contain toxins that can cause amatoxin poisoning, which can lead to severe illness or even death.
In the California cases, the poisonings caused severe liver damage in both children and adults, resulting in three deaths, three liver transplants and 35 hospitalizations as of Jan. 6, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
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The CDPH warned the outbreak was linked to consumption of “wild, foraged mushrooms” and urged Californians not to pick or eat wild mushrooms at this time.
The officials stated in a report that death cap mushrooms are “still poisonous even after cooking, boiling, freezing or drying.”
The California Poison Control System (CPCS) identified cases across Northern California and the Central Coast, spanning regions from Sonoma to San Luis Obispo between Nov. 18 and Jan. 6.
Affected individuals ranged from 19 months to 67 years old. Officials blamed the recent rainfall for the overgrowth of the toxic mushroom.
Symptoms of amatoxin poisoning
Common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and dehydration, which can occur within six to 24 hours after ingesting the poisonous mushroom, stated the CDPH report.
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“You might not get symptoms for the first five or six hours, and that’s just by nature of the breakdown of the toxin in the stomach. Then you get the nausea, vomiting and diarrhea,” Dr. Lauren Shawn, M.D., a board-certified emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist at Northwell Health Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, New York, told Fox News Digital.
“Because of the damage caused by the death cap mushroom, the liver is no longer able to function properly.”
Although symptoms can resolve within a day, serious or even fatal liver damage can still occur two to four days later.
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After the initial stomach issues subside, the toxin continues to invade the liver cells and stops them from making RNA (ribonucleic acid), which the body needs to make healing and protective proteins.
“It takes some time for the toxin to actually damage the cell, which is why people don’t show up with liver failure until a day or two after,” Shawn said.
Amatoxin “damages many types of cells in the human body, but especially liver cells,” Dr. Adam Berman, the associate chair of emergency medicine and a medical toxicologist at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, told Fox News Digital.
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“Because of the damage caused by the death cap mushroom, the liver is no longer able to function properly. Without a functional liver, the body begins to fail and can quickly die,” the doctor warned.
As there is no widely available rapid test to detect amatoxin poisoning, clinicians rely on exposure history, symptoms and liver tests, according to experts.
When to seek medical attention
Anyone who has consumed this type of mushroom should follow up with their primary care physician or a liver specialist to monitor for liver failure, doctors recommend.
“Ideally, if you have leftover mushrooms, bring them in or take pictures of them, because hopefully a poison center can call a mycologist and actually identify what the mushroom is,” Shawn advised.
Toxicologists agree with the California health agency’s warning to avoid foraging wild mushrooms.
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“The death cap mushroom can look to the untrained eye like many common and non-toxic mushrooms, which often makes it often difficult to spot and avoid,” Berman told Fox News Digital. “Because of this, it is best to not go looking for wild mushrooms to eat, especially in areas where the death cap mushroom commonly grows.”
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Shawn agreed that it is also not worth the risk.
“There’s a saying, ‘there are old mushroom foragers, there are bold mushroom foragers, but there are no old, bold mushroom foragers,’” she told Fox News Digital. “It’s a risky thing and you really have to know what you’re doing.”
The CDPH recommends that individuals purchase mushrooms from trusted grocery stores and retailers, to be careful when buying them from street vendors, and to keep children and pets away from wild mushrooms.
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Those in the area who have ingested a death cap mushroom should contact the CPCS hotline at 1-800-222-1222 and seek medical attention right away, health officials advised.
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